A tale of two cousins
by sparklemalfoysparkle
Summary: 2 female cousins arrive at Hogwarts mysteriously. Why is Draco so fascinated by one of them, even though she hates him? What secrets and powers do they possess? There's romance, danger and magic in the air. DracoOFC, and other suprise pairings! RR plz!
1. The tower

CHAPTER ONE: The tower

It was fifty years since Voldemort has walked the earth. The wizards and witches live in isolation, and only the really poor, or orphans go to Hogwarts anymore. Our story begins on a surprisingly cold night for autumn, as we focus on two beautiful sisters, living in a run down tower.

The wind screamed and howled around the empty bottom floors of Euchrid tower. The bottom floors had been abandoned years ago, and now, the only inhabitants, the Euchrid sisters, Glossolalia and Illuminatra lived in the highest reaches of the spire. They were from a proud pureblood family, famous for its beautiful and dangerously powerful witches, but their mother had frittered away their immense fortune, leaving the two girls practically destitute. As the older sister, Illuminatra had hoped to home school her younger sister, but they simply had no money left. Glo, as she preferred to be called was nearly 16 but it seemed as if she would have to enter Hogwarts.

"I cannot BELIEVE that you're sending me to school, with those, those…cretins! There's not a decent one among them! I may as well hand in my brain and ask for a refund, as attend that so called school." Complained Glo, her glorious azure eyes gleaming with passion as she spoke. She refused to wear the school uniform, instead choosing to wear a white leather bustier with red edging, a ground length black silk skirt spilt up to her hip on one side, with black fishnets, and thigh high red leather boots with lots of buckles. She wore one red fishnet fingerless elbow length glove and she tied her thick luxurious black tresses up so that random locks fell in natural waves and framed her face. She had naturally milk white skin, which she accentuated with rich red lippy and thick black eyeliner. She didn't care what anyone said. She would dress and act the way she wanted. she tied the traditional sign of her family, the raven's feather on a silver chain around her neck.

Her sister sighed. Illuminatra loved her sister, and thought she was right, of course, but there was nothing else to do. She would have to attend Hogwarts. Though the Euchrid family had always been home taught, money was too tight, now.

"Just you shut your mouth, Glo. You're lucky. At least you go to school….I have to become Archeron Malfoy's mistress…." Growled Illuminatra. Glo looked very sorry.

"I'm very sorry, sis. I know that we all have to make sacrifices. And the Malfoy's are our families ancient enemy! It's so sad that we have become this poor… Well I swear to you, I will NEVER love a Malfoy, never!" Glo shouted, and Illuminatra smiled, then swore under her breath as she saw the clock.

"Are you ready, cos we have to go, right now! We're gonna be late!" Illuminatra shouted, and she pulled Glo out to the stairs and down to the fireplace, or as they called it, F central.

"What are you talking about, sister? That bloody train's not leaving for two hours!" Glo grumbled. Illuminatra looked sheepish.

"Well, I kind of promised that we'd pick up another transfer student on the way….It's someone that you know." She said, and Glo paled, which didn't really seem possible, but apparently was.

"Oh, no fucking way." She said, and then yelped as Illuminatra backhanded her across the face.

"None of that language here, miss! Your cousin is a lovely, happy girl, and she's family, and we support family!" Growled her sister, and Glo sighed, rubbing her nose.

"I hate her. She and I are total opposites. Plus, she's high, she's always high." Glo mumbled, and her sister sighed again. They had gone through F central and were walking up to the steps of the house where her dreaded cousin, a girl the same age lived.

What could they expect inside?

---(end chap1, more to come!)

Author's notes: Did ya love it? Review and tell me! Sorry to leave you on a bit of a cliffy, but Ii promise it's worth the wait. In the next chapter Glo's gonna meet her cousin, and finally come face to face with the boy who lived, and her supposed arch nemesis, Draco Malfoy. Is romance in the air? And what is the mysterious gift that Glo's cousin wants to give her? Just wait for the next chap and you'll see!


	2. The station

CHAPTER TWO: The station

The residual magics around the Guru home meant that it was always hot, for an ancestor of theirs had trapped the memory of one particular boiling summer day in the houses grounds, and time just recycled. The Gurus were a weird, wild pureblood family, who never interacted with the rest of wizarding society. They wed foreign purebloods, and occasionally magical creatures, like veelas, dryads or selkies. But for some unknown reason, Lumira Euchrid, the twin sister of Glo and Illuminatra's mother had fallen for a Guru, and they had produced Glo's hated cousin, Ella Guru.

Across the unnatural heat shimmering in the air, Glo watched as her cousin slowly approached. Glo was right, they couldn't be more different.

Ella was tall and slender; she had a dancer's physique. Glo was short and curvy, she had an hourglass figure, but Ella stood tall, no curves at all. And whilst Glo was pale, verging on pallid, Ella was a deep olive, with a smattering of freckles. She wore her straight light brunette hair long, and in many thick plaits, which she had woven through magic'd white ribbon, so that it flashed the colours of the rainbow. She had large pale green eyes, and a mobile expression, constantly changing, and she was nearly always smiling. As she walked over to her relations Glo saw that she was clad with in her customary garb, a white ground length cheesecloth dress, with a bandeau top, bare feet, which had nails painted in strange and clashing colours, she had wilted daisy chains around her wrists, and she wore a necklace made of strange beads, fashioned to look like soap bubbles. Glo gritted her teeth in anger. The necklace meant that her cousin was high, and would be, most probably for the next three or so months.

For Ella believed in expanding her consciousness, and the way she chose to was via a magic drug-like spell, called _Felix_. The strange incantation gave the chanter a feeling of bliss and good fortune, but had side effects like astral projection, hallucinations that became real, and spontaneous wandless magic. Not to mention complete and utter addiction. The spell was illegal of course, so those who loved it sung the magic song into glass, then broke it when their current hit wore off. Each bubble on Ella's necklace contained enough of the spell to keep her high for a day, and their was definitely three month's worth there. Glo sighed. Hogwarts was going to be harder than she had thought.

"Hello, my dear, dear cousins! Fortune has smiled upon our meeting." Said Ella, beaming. Glo sneered.

"Look's like fortune's already had it's way with you, Ella." She said, snidely, but shut up as Illuminatra glared at her.

"Are you all packed, cousin?" She asked, for Ella had with her no trunk or hand luggage.

"Illuminatra, I need no luggage for this journey. Nature will provide." She smiled benevolently at her cousins, and Glo resisted the urge to smash that smug grin off of her face.

"…Right. Ok, well if you're sure, we should be heading off. Wouldn't want you two to be late for your first day of school!" Illuminatra said with false cheer. She found Ella perplexing, but could never understand why Glo was so infuriated by her.

They walked in silence through the fireplace, landing a few meters away from the train station. Ella still had her mysterious smile, but Glo's beauty was being ruined by her frown, for it is hard for anyone to look attractive whilst being that disgruntled. Illuminatra waved them off, the sisters sharing a surprisingly desperate hug before the elder moved quickly away, lest her sister see her tears of shame. Illuminatra couldn't believe that it had come to this, a Euchrid, attending the slum of schools, Hogwarts. She knew that in the past, Hogwarts had been a glorious place, filled with the powerful and the elite, a desirable school. But now, after the fall of Voldemort, people took care of their own not wishing to run the risk of the ghost of Voldemort, which haunted the school, infecting their children. Thus Hogwarts was staffed with a skeleton (not literally!) staff, the once proud castle falling into disrepair, as the wards and spells that had kept it whole dissolved, for the current staff and students were too weak to offer the magic needed.

Ella and Glo stood on the dilapidated platform 9 ¾'s, watching as waifs and guttersnipes made their way forlornly to the platform. Hogwarts had opened it's doors after the magical war between the Death Eaters and the rest of the wizarding world, to the orphans of both sides, and many of these children had been born within Hogwarts walls, only leaving every summer to attend the three month long magic camp that the remaining rich wizarding families were obliged to fund. Glo felt equal amounts of pity and disgust. She had no comprehension of true poverty, even though she and her sister had no money in their family vaults they had been provided for by the land their family owned. In truth, what she considered to be her terrible poor status was in reality just nowhere near the glamour that she had once dwelled in.

"I can't believe that it's come to this." Glo muttered, scowling. Her normally brilliant eyes were clouded with anger. The other students gave her and her oddly cheerful cousin a wide berth.

"You know, my dear Glossolalia, it doesn't have to be like this." Ella said softly, smiling as her cousin turned on her, snarling.

"What the hell are you blathering about, you drugged out imbecile?" She asked angrily, then flushed, as Ella threw her head back with laughter. Still giggling, Ella tried to calm herself. One of the side effects of _Felix_ was that she had trouble containing any sort of mirth.

"I mean, that we don't have to attend this Hogwarts, as it is, falling apart, riddled with the leftovers from a too taxing war. We could attend Hogwarts at the height of it's glory, and with a few careful movements, we could change history." Ella proclaimed, an odd light burning in her crystalline eyes.

"Let's presume that you haven't gone completely batshit insane. How on earth would we do that, Ella? Jump on a passing phoenix, get them to drop us off at the closest time paradox?" Glo said scornfully.

"Nothing so elaborate, Glossolalia. In fact, it can all be accomplished with a few twists of this." With a complicated twist of her hands, Ella began chanting under breath. Glo knew that she was performing Old magic. The Guru and the Euchrid families did have that in common. They both clung to the old folk magics, songs that were also spells. The drug that Ella loved so much was a hybrid bastardization of Old magic and new. At the moment, Ella was singing the reveal song, and surely enough the daisy chain on her right wrist began to turn into a long beautiful golden chain, with a strange object at the end. Caught up by curiosity, Glo reached down and examined it. She let out a sharp breath when she realized that it was a Time Turner.

"Where did you get this, Ella?" I thought that they had all been destroyed!" She gasped, turning the rare and priceless artifact over in her hands.

"Never you mind, little cousin. There are some things that innocents like you don't need to know." Ella smiled beatifically. Glo hissed, but she knew that her cousin, despite her sunshine and smiling outside must at least know some shady people for how else could she have gotten a hold of the song of _Felix _at the tender age of 16?

"Should we? I mean…." Glo trailed off. She looked around her, at the miserable children waiting to go back to the rotting, dying castle, to be taught by sub-par teachers and doomed to fade into mediocrity. Whereas, here was a chance, to go back to the Hogwarts of yesteryear, to meet all of those famous names every wizarding child knew. She pondered no more. Clearing her face of the scowl that had befouled it, she suddenly looked beautiful again, and she turned to her cousin, for the first time in years, and smiled at her with genuine affection.

"Then let's not waste another second in the dump, Ella. Let's blow this popsicle stand." As she spoke, Ella threw the chain around both of their heads, and began to turn the Time Turner, faster and faster, until her fingers were pink with effort. Days, months, years wheeled past, until they finally came to rest exactly where they had been standing. But now, the station glowed with excellent repair, and was full of well dressed children and their families.

"Sweet merciful crap." Whispered Glo, as she stood unnoticed amongst the crowd. Ella chuckled.

"I did warn you, dear cousin. And now, now you will get to live with legends. Isn't that what you always wanted?" Ella said, infuriatingly smug. Glo kicked her in the ankle, and moved on further down the platform, finally garnering some notice. She was certainly a striking addition to the crowd, her haughty demeanor and her strange sartorial choices made her stick out like a sore thumb. But she paid the wondering people no mind, intent as she was on studying the train, the world around her. Of course not paying attention to your surrounds never ends well. Entranced by the shocking changes in her environment, Glo thumped solidly into a blond boy, knocking him to the ground.

"Watch where you're going, peasant!" Snarled Draco Malfoy, for it was he. Glo, instantly recognizing the Malfoy crest sewn into his robes swore under her breath. Not two minutes had passed in this new world and she had already bumped into her worst enemy. She scowled across at him. She couldn't help but notice that though the boy had the characteristic colouring of the Malfoy family he was quite handsome. Glo felt disgusted with herself for noticing it, but it was self evident. When she didn't apologize Malfoy went to shout at her, but was cut off by the appearance of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry reached out and pulled the stunned Glo to her feet.  
"Are you ok, miss? Sorry bout Malfoy…you know rich kids, they have no manners." Said Ron, as Glo dusted herself off, and tried desperately not to scream with excitement. Here she was talking to the heroes of the great war! But if she had silly random squealing she would blow her and Ella's cover, because she really, really did not want to explain the "50 years in the future" thing to anyone in the past. It would cause way too much trouble.

"Um, thanks." She muttered, then mentally slapped herself in the face. Um, thanks? Where was her lauded aloofness? Apparently, in the face of celebrities, she went to pieces. So when Ella came over, to run interference, Glo was actually glad to see her.

"Are you OK, Glossolalia?" Ella put a friendly hand on the small of her back, and then tapped out a message in Oggham with her index finger, one of the many magical languages they both spoke, and one of the only that could be used like the Muggle Morse code. **_Do not speak._**

Not speak? Glo growled then clenched a message of her own into Ella's arm. **_Shut up, you drug riddled hippy._**

Ella began to giggle and then turned away, trying to cease her mirth.

"Anyways, I'm Harry, this is Ron and Hermione. Are you a student here, or a teacher's aide?" Asked Harry, seeing that neither cousin was in uniform.

"We are exchange students, come to experience Hogwarts for ourselves." Lied Ella smoothly, turning back to the conversation and Glo smirked inwardly. Ella always lied convincingly, despite her crap about being an innocent child, a baby of sunshine and other such nonsense.

"Wow, I don't think we've ever had exchange students here before!" Exclaimed Hermione, and she flicked her bushy brown hair over her shoulder. She was surprised to see the two girls so clearly out of uniform, but maybe their old school hadn't had a uniform? Little did she suspect that neither girl had ever attended anything like school, so this was going to come as more of a shock to both of them then either of the two suspected.

What lay in store for them in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts?

---(End chapter2)

Authors note: Wow, that was a little longer than I was planning, but I don't think anyone will complain, lol.

In the next chapter, there will be the Sorting, and more conflict between Glo and Draco….we've only hit the tip of the iceberg in this chapter. And we'll get to see a little bit more of Ella's dark side.

Thanks for reading, see you in chapter3!


	3. The castle

Chapter three: The castle

The cousins were quiet on the boat ride over the moat. They had squeezed in with the Golden Trio, but Ella's long legs were cramping from being in the small space. She was surruptishly trailing a finger in the water, trying to avoid Hagrid's glare. The half-giant had not taken a shine to either cousin, perhaps sensing their use of Old magic. Giants and other magical beings were more sensitive to that kind of thing, and they distrusted any human who still used it. There was no law against Old magic, but it had been out of fashion and thought for so long, that the only humans who still knew anything about it were two or three pureblood families, and many poor Muggles, who sung the magic songs, calling them 'folk songs and chants'. It was peasant's magic, but as with many things, just because it did not require a fancy wand, or a staff with a knob on the end, it did not mean that it was less powerful than the newer forms of magic.

Glo sighed as they came up close to Hogwarts. She was a little in awe of her company, but her practical mind was wondering about the complications that would arise from being in the past. Firstly, and fore mostly, all her possessions were in the future. She had no trunk, only what she had on her at the moment. Ella had even less than that, not even having shoes on. Glo knew that Ella had her feet permanently enchanted so that they were encased in a weather sensitive, protective barrier, but she doubted that it would be acceptable in a school environment. And for the first time she was feeling self conscious about her clothing choices. Sure she looked absolutely stunning, but maybe she had been a bit rash with the idea of not wearing a uniform. Certainly they looked warmer and more sturdy than her own beautiful garb. She jabbed Ella in the ribs, startling the taller girl out of her dream like reverie.

"Ella! How the hell are we supposed to get changed, survive for a year without a change of clothes or any possessions?" She hissed, and when Ella smiled her mind numbingly infuriating grin back at her, it was all Glo could do to stop from killing her on the spot.

"My dear Glossolalia, you worry too much. Do you think I am so harebrained as to rush us into this predicament without making any allowances?" Glo's look of incredulousness penetrated Ella's smug bubble. Glo looked at her cousin, until the other girl broke into a self depreciating giggle.

"Fine, I'll give you that, sweet cousin. But this time, I promise that I haven't left us high and dry. When we get to our rooms, we will be provided for. Don't fret so." Ella made a grandiose gesture with her hands, then went back to her own private little world, her eyes fixed on a point, near the horizon, and a sweet smell began issuing from her hair, which meant that she was hallucinating. Glo moaned to herself. She was stuck in the past, with a drug dependant powerful witch, and her own ingenuity being the only things between them and total disaster. This was going to be harder than she had originally thought.

A clamor of noise stopped her thoughts as the boats arrived at Hogwarts. Glo closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and mentally readied herself. She would be fine….right?

The great hall of Hogwarts stretched above their heads, almost forever, or so it seemed. The ceiling sparkled with the pinpricks of magically forged starlight, and Glo spent an entranced moment or two absorbed in the celestial dance of the constellations tattooed across the roof. Then she walked into Ella's back, for the other girl had stopped stock still and was also gazing at the stars. But where Glo's had been a momentary distraction, Ella had the fixed gaze of someone experiencing a full blown hallucinatory episode.

"Ella Jenari Guru! Will you please focus on our current state, instead of gazing up at the roof like a moonsick moron!" Growled Glo and kicked her cousin in the back of her right knee.

"Ouch!" Ella looked bewildered, and Glo watched as she came back down to Earth.

"Glossolalia, I think a star bit me." Ella complained as they continued into the hall.

"Yep, that's right. It was a star that, uh bit you." Glo said, smirking. Ella huffed, and then they came to a stop as they reached the end of the Great Hall, and they saw the raised dais, the seat and the legendary Sorting hat.

In their own time, the Sorting hat had been retired, and instead students elected what house they wished to be in, or if they had parents who had attended they were automatically sorted into that house. It was a deeply flawed system, which had only increased the future Hogwarts' downfall. But now they would be judged by a relic of Old magic…it was a terrifying and exciting prospect.

The cousins heard the whispers of the first years around them, wondering which house they would get into. Neither the Guru nor Euchrid families had ever attended Hogwarts or any other magical school before, so they had no family history to rely on. Glo thought that Ella was bound for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. There was no way that dippy, ditzy hippy could make either of the other houses….and for herself, she just knew that she would not be in Hufflepuff. But she had no idea where she would land.

They were the only teenagers amongst a gaggle of eleven year olds, the only ones to have reached age of majority. Glo felt so old among them, for they had no comprehension of the future, what would happen to this beautiful place. Suddenly she felt sad.

But her sudden melancholy vanished as the sorting began, and as the first child ascended the seat and had the hat touch his head, Glo became aware of a low humming sound, and turned to face Ella, who was humming the tune of an Old song-spell, the tune revealing it as Make My Will Truth, a forbidden spell that coerced the brain into making changes according to the spell caster's will.

"Ella! What are you doing?" Glo asked frantically. Ella broke off the lullaby-like tune to look her cousin deep in the eyes. Ella's strange pale green eyes were alight with magic, and Glo recognized the signs of the end of a long spell coming. She wondered how long Ella had been singing the spell.

"Sweet Glossolalia, I am simply making the necessary changes to this time so that our presence will go unnoticed and fairly unremarked upon. Surely you did not think that we could just waltz 50 years into the past and have everything go smoothly without greasing the cogs with a little magic?" Ella said dismissively, then turned back to the front, continuing her chant, and Glo felt it hit the crescendo, and squirmed as the magic settled down into the fabric of reality. Whatever changes that Ella had wanted they had been successful. And in a world without any Old magic adepts excepting themselves, it would go without saying that they would be perfect. Then startlingly, Glo became aware of two piercing gazes glaring their way, and as she looked around she saw the dark eyes of Severus Snape, and the icy strange eyes of Albus Dumbledore looking at where they stood. So, mused Glo. There are still others who practiced the Old ways, which meant that she and Ella would have to be careful. Ella had of course not noticed the intent of which the two men were watching them, and Glo groaned to herself. This meant that she would have to keep her guard up, because of course, Ella, that colossal spacecase would be unable to handle the consequences of her actions.

The sorting had reached its end, and then it was the cousins turn to be Sorted. Glo wished that they had not been left for last, for now the entire school's attention was focused on the two of them. Alphabetically, she was first, so Glo stepped up, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head.

She heard a dry dusty voice, like the sound of a thousand pieces of parchment rustling in her ear.

"Well, well, this is something you don't see every day….from the future, huh? Well, I won't hold that against you. Now let's see, you've got ambition and pride, and a strong sense of loyalty. But mostly, you are reckless, you step into situations without thinking, and you…have put yourself in danger for others." The hat paused, and Glo felt ill. The hat was referring to the death of her mother. She had tried so hard, but still…her mother was gone. She blinked away a sudden tear, and concentrated furiously on the present, pushing painful memories to the back of her mind.

"Well, then young miss, I think that you'd be best suited to…..GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shrieked the last word out loud, and a stunned Glo moved over to the cheering table. Many of the boys looked up interested in the pretty girl, she didn't even notice them. She was still reeling from the hat's description of herself.

But she snapped out of it in time to see Ella sit down and have the hat placed on her head. She would have given her right eye to know what was going on under that hat. What would the hat see in her? The school hushed as one, then two minutes ticked away. Ella herself, just sat patiently, ankles crossed and eyes closed. After another two minutes, the hat seemed to come to a decision.

"SLYTHERIN!" It screamed, and Glo nearly fainted with shock. Surely the hat was kidding! But Ella, with a small, secret smile on her face walked towards the Slytherin table, with scattered applause. She was mainly being appraised by the older Slytherins, and when she sat demurely along side the first years, there was muttering amongst the 6th and 7th years.

Ron Weasley, who was sitting across from Glo, clicked his tongue sympathetically.

"Sorry bout your cousin being Slytherin, and all. Still, not to worry, you've got into the best house in Hogwarts!" He said, and people around took that as their cue to introduce themselves to Glo, to congratulate her, and to ask a hundred and one questions about her. She became so involved in the dense mass of questions that she took no notice of her cousin, sitting tall, a pillar of white cloth and bronzed skin amongst the dark clothed students.

As all the students got up to leave, Draco Malfoy pushed his way over to where Glo sat.

"Hey, you! Euchrid!" He said , Crabbe and Goyle looming behind him. Glo growled. She wouldn't take any crap from this boy. True, the Malfoy and Euchrid issues had started 40 years in the past, so that there was still ten years to go until there would even be a problem between their families, but still. There was the principle.

"Aren't you going to apologise for knocking me over like the great big lump you are?" Draco said viciously.

"Shove off, Malfoy. I don't apologise for things I don't care about." Glo answered back smartly.

"Listen, girl. This is your first day here, so I'll give you some advice for free. You don't want me as an enemy." Draco said, with more than a hint of malice in his tone.

"Piss off, Malfoy. Go back to crawling around in the dark." Said Ron, and Harry just glared at the blond. Malfoy smirked.

"Frankly, I could care less. Bring in on, ferret face." Said Glo, contemptuously, and then she wondered why the boy had gone pale with anger.

"You'll regret this, bitch." He sneered, then stalked away. Glo tried to ignore the part of her that had found the colour of his angry eyes beautiful. She turned around and went back to talking to her housemates.

The cousins were to sleep in a spare room in the astronomy tower, until proper adjustments to their respective dormitories had been made, which could take a few weeks. Their room was hastily furnished, but it had the traditional four poster beds, one in red and gold, one in green and silver. Laid out on their beds, were long thin nightdresses, and they each had a trunk that had been partially unpacked into their chest of drawers. Glo peaked in and saw crisply washed and pressed school uniforms, underwear bras and socks in the drawers. Remaining in the trunk were several of her own dresses, seven pairs of boots, and one pair of school shoes.

Examining Ella's she saw the same thing, though Ella's trunk had dried flowers scattered throughout, and every piece of clothing she had brought that wasn't school uniform was either white or rainbow, which didn't come as a surprise. She saw one pair of school shoes, and sniggered. She had never seen Ella wear shoes, and this entire experience would be worth it if she did.

Ella hoped down on to her bed and ignored her cousin's attempts at conversation. Glo realized that Ella was experiencing a comedown, and that she needed sleep, so she closed her bed curtains, slid into the nighty and hopped into bed.

Her last thoughts, before she slipped into sleep were, that lousy Malfoy. When I see him next, I'm gonna stick the boot in. Even if he is handsome, and has really amazing eyes….what am I thinking??? I hate all Malfoys!

With that vehement thought, she let slumber take her.

---(end chapter3)---

Authors note: Ok, that chapter is even longer! I think I see a pattern.

In the next chapter there will be classes, and Ella's first meeting with Professor Snape, which is bound to be full of surprises. And will Draco take revenge on Glo for her mocking him?

I'd like to thank all my reviewers ( at time of writing…if I miss you, I'll mention you next chapter) : Demolitionlovers111, MississippiGirl13, SilverwingsJP, xxDreamGurlxx, RuneWitchSakura, and Se-chan. You guys are awesome and I really appreciate you taking the time to review! 


	4. The skeleton

Chapter Four: The skeleton

WARNING: This chapter contains scenes with dark themes; it may be distressing to sensitive readers. They aren't extreme or anything, but I thought I better warn, as it's darker than the previous chapters.

Glo woke up screaming, but no one came to comfort her, and for one moment she felt overwhelmed with homesickness. If she was back in the tower, her sister would have hugged her, comforted her, and pushed the nightmares away. But she had committed to this ting, and now she was stuck in the past, and her sister was 50 years away. It was a sobering thought. She opened the curtains and stood still as she watch Ella take a hit of _Felix_. The tall girl took her necklace, plucked a bubble-bead off with expert fingers and smashed the ball between the palms of her hands, and poured the shiny, sparkling dust onto her tongue. Though the bubbles looked like glass, they clearly weren't.

Glo was loath to disturb her cousin's ritual, but boredom overtook her common sense.

"What's it like, Ella?" She asked, and though Ella stayed still, her mouth took on her characteristic smile.

"Imagine sunshine flowing through your veins, and stars serenading you. And you might get close to this, sweet cousin." Said Ella, and Glo sighed. She knew that she should have expected a response like that.

"Thanks Ella." Glo said, dryly. She couldn't help but wonder what the day held for them. Neither of them had attended any sort of school before. She had been tutored by either magical experts, or her mother, and after her mother's passing, her sister. And as for Ella, Glo could only guess. She knew enough though. Ella had grown up wild, running barefoot amongst the vast Guru estate, in that unnatural summer swelter. She had run away numerous times, disappearing for months on end, coming back dirty, bruised and grinning. Her parents hadn't the ability to control Ella all that much.

Lumira had gone quietly insane soon after Ella's birth. She lived in two small rooms in the basement of one of the Guru's houses. She had her every need attended to by a sympathetic psych-witch and two house-elves. She hadn't left those rooms for 15 years, and Ella couldn't remember her face, though they communicated through letters. The two had a fierce, strange love, but Lumira had little or no power over Ella's decisions. And as for her father, the infamous Stagger Lee Guru, well…he approved of Ella's wildness, being a similar being. In fact, Stagger Lee was known to wander off around the world himself leaving his young daughter alone in the house, to be taken care of by their various house elves. He still loved his wife intensely, which may have been the reason he had never really engaged with Ella. But the neglect, the lack of discipline and so forth had resulted in the strangely laid back person that Ella was. Whether or not this would stand her in good stead for a school environment remained to be seen.

Forgetting her musings on her cousin, Glo slowly got up, stretched and got dressed, making a face when she saw the result. Without her customary getup she looked younger, and less intimidating. She looked at her makeup, then rolled her eyes. Someone who wore this outfit didn't wear Goth makeup. As her one act of rebellion, she forwent the usual school shoes and slipped on her buckle laden bondage boots. With these she felt more like herself. Glo turned around and watched Ella go through similar motions, but the other girl was moving slowly, as if in a dream. Glo frowned, hoping that this way of behaving wasn't going to continue, otherwise they'd be screwed.

Ella shook herself like a wet dog, and seemed to remove herself from her lethargy, and turned to Glo, a strange blank look on her face.

"Shall we, sweet cousin?" She asked, and Glo straightened up and they walked out of their makeshift bedroom door. They walked side by side, and Glo felt a strange camaraderie with the taller girl. Maybe the one thing she could take back to the past would be a greater affection for her cousin.

An hour into her first lesson, Glo knew she was in serious trouble. She felt like crying, or throwing up. She had no attention span, had lost track of what the professor had been saying ten minutes into the class, and now she just felt so very stupid. She had never realized how much her sister and mother had structured their lessons around her attention issues. They'd studied one thing for ten minutes, swap to another for ten, then have a break, and repeat that for the entire lesson duration. But now, forced to do the same thing for longer than she could pay attention, Glo felt so irredeemably dense. The rest of the class had their noses down, scribbling notes on their parchment, but all she had done was a quick sketch of the back of Harry Potter's head, the detail of a bird's wing that was resting outside, and endless black spirals all over her work, with a few stars.

She had always thought that she was an awesome student, that she had no faults at all. But now, here, here was a huge stumbling stone. Never mind fitting into the past, how the hell was she supposed to fit into school if she couldn't absorb anything from the lessons?

Desperately, she found herself thinking of Ella, and she wondered if the other girl was having the same issues.

"Quiet!" Growled Professor Snape, as the potion class got distracted once again. He sighed to himself, he should really have known better than to have allowed controlled experimentation, even amongst his advanced students. What it had resulted in was the students attempting to create various drugs, or cosmetic potions, both of which he didn't approve of. He glared at the noisiest, then felt his gaze fall upon the newest addition to his class, the tall girl with the permanent smile, and slightly glassy eyes. She moved carefully as she gently sprinkled dried feverfew into her cauldron, and watched her as she closed her eyes and inhaled the semi-sweet fragrance it caused.

"Enjoying that, Miss Guru?" He asked the girl, who didn't make any movement acknowledging that she'd even heard. But, after a moment her lips quirked into a slow arc, and with her eyes still closed she answered him.

"Why of course, Severus. You know I try to enjoy all things." She said softly, feeling the man's annoyance, listening to the sounds of his genius mind whirling. He knew that she and Glossolalia were anomalies, and he knew the Guru family. This kind of thing would not come as much of a surprise.

"When we are in a school environment, Ms. Guru, you will refer to me as Professor Snape." She opened her eyes and brushed a bold hand against his robes, where his thigh would be.

"And when we are out of one, you may refer to me as Ella, Professor." She said, and the man had an unlovely chuckle. He'd met Gurus before. He knew about them and this girl was just like her kin. However, unlike many people who would take the gentle seeming, spaced out girl at face value, Snape knew that the Gurus were not a family to be trusted. They had a darkness to them that would surprise many. And it didn't surprise him that the girl was flirting with him. He'd given into one Guru before….maybe he was their family's type.

"Ms. Guru, being familiar with me will not get you far in this world. How on earth will you keep yours and your dear cousin's secret if I accidentally let it slip to Dumbledore that two of his students were from the future?" He smiled nastily, and Ella narrowed her eyes, her spacey expression replaced with something like cunning. Knowing that no-one in the class was paying attention; Ella pushed her hand rudely in between the professor's legs, and looking at him, point blank. He leant towards her, and she to him.

"On the other hand, Severus….I believe that not revealing my secret could be beneficial. After all, wouldn't you like to know who to betray?" She hissed, and Snape laughed again.

"You are an interesting creature, child." She nodded gracefully and removed herself from his personal space.

"We are similar creatures, Severus. We both have skeletons in our closets. And it would be inconvenient for either of us if any of them escaped." She said, not facing him, and Snape contained the laughter he felt this time. It had been years since he'd had a dangerous opponent in school grounds. He looked forward to the challenge. He walked away smiling, then turned around.

"By the way, ten points off Slytherin, thanks to your actions, Miss Guru." He said. The rest of the class glared viciously at her, but she was back to staring into the swirling depths of her cauldron, inhaling the smoke, flicking the incandescent goo with the edge of her ladle.

It was the end of the first classes, and Glo realized that she was screwed. She felt ill after spending that much time in the one place, doing the one thing. It was hopeless. She might as well tell Ella to grab their stuff, and head on back to their own time. She just couldn't learn.

"Excuse me, Glossolalia, isn't it?" Asked a voice, and Glo turned to be face to face with Hermione Granger, one of the Golden Trio. She felt nervous, the way people feel in front of celebrities.

"Um, yes. You can call me Glo, though. I prefer that." She said, weakly. Hermione grinned, determination in her eyes. Glo felt a little scared.

"Excellent. Now, I couldn't help but notice that you're having a hard time in class, and since you're new here, you may not know how things are. So, if you're not opposed, I offer my services as a tutor, to help you get into the swing of things!" Offered Hermione, and Glo felt overwhelmed. But the other girl was looking at her, with a gleam of sincerity in her eyes. She knew, from history books, that Hermione Granger was a terrifyingly powerful witch. Learning from her would be an amazing opportunity. There was no way she could refuse the offer.

"Uhh…yes! Yes that would be wonderful. But why me?" Asked Glo, feeling a little uncertain.

"Because we Griffindors look out for each other. Now come on, we'll go grab lunch." And Hermione dragged the surprised girl behind her.

Ella emerged from the shadows, then pushed herself back into them a Draco Malfoy and his gang sauntered up the hallway.

"I don't like those new girls. They feel like Mudbloods but they both claim pureblood status. And that Griffindor bitch keeps on glaring at me." He said, and Ella walked 20 paces behind him and his posse, shamelessly eavesdropping.

"But, Draco! She's pretty hot!" Muttered Crabbe, and Goyle nodded. Draco blushed slightly, bringing colour to his pallid complexion.

"I haven't noticed." He said haughtily. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a knowing eye roll, then they and Ella arrived in the Great Hall.

Ella saw her cousin sandwiched between Hermione and Ron and snickered to herself. It was good to see her loner cousin finally make some friends, though it was a said thought that it taken traveling back in time to find people her cousin got on with.

As Ella sat down near the end of the Slytherin tables, she felt a heated glance, and looked up to meet Professor Snape's dark eyes fixated upon her. She raised her glass, and he did the same.

Huh, thought Ella. This little history trip will be more fun than I thought!

-----(End)-----

Author's notes: Wooh! Long time to write that! Sorry. This fic has ended up heading into darkfic territory, where it was never going there in the first place. Lousy plotbunnies.

Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter, look foreward to Glo's first kiss, Ella's violent side, and an unexpected twist!


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